Cool is Cool is Cool: The Japanese City Buses of Tomica Limited Vintage…

My guess is you won’t find too many buses showcased here on Lamley. Along those same lines, you probably won’t see many models here that can’t fit in a standard Hot Wheels/Matchbox blister, or TLV box, or Kyosho display. Or to make it more clear, the Lamley displays made by Carney.

But today we have some exceptions, and we are more than thrilled to show them off.

In our ongoing efforts to show you how awesome Tomica Limited Vintage is, and to show how far beyond the IDx the line goes, we have gone big. We always tout TLV’s commitment to 1:64 scale, and there is where they get serious.

We don’t know much about buses, whether in Japan or just down the street. But there is just something about these models that made us curious, so we ponied up a few dollars to get one. Then another. And then another. There are now three in the Lamley collection, and we don’t think we are done.

But for now, we will show them off. We can’t say much, other than Hino and Isuzu buses are city buses, and the charming Nissan Civilian is a people transporter, with a capacity of about 30.

So we will start by giving you an idea of their size. Here are the Hino and Isuzu side-by-side:

About the same size. Now here is the Hino next to a standard 1:64 TLV street car, in this case the Fairlady 260z, which is just slightly smaller than a standard Hot Wheels car:

Isn’t that about what a full-size Z would look like stopped by a bus at a red light? Cool, eh? Here is another comparison, with a Datsun 510 and Toyota Publica:

Next, the Nissan Civilian:

Looks like a bus, talks like a bus, and it is a bus. Just a smaller bus:

Once again, true to scale:

But as great as TLV’s commitment to scale is, it is the detail that makes these models amazing. So you know, each bus comes with a few accessories, mainly side mirrors that need to be installed. We haven’t opened those yet, as we are waiting to finish the display that will house these mammoths. The Hino also comes with decals that we may or may no apply. It already looks amazing…

So here they are, in all their glory. We are sure we will be adding more to the collection, and we will show them off when we do. In the meantime, head over to Japan Booster to check out their stock of buses, that we have been told will grow in the next few days…

3 thoughts on “Cool is Cool is Cool: The Japanese City Buses of Tomica Limited Vintage…”

Very weird buses than U.S buses and Canada buses. The only bus I like here is the Hino RB10 type TOKYU bus. While I'm not a fan of buses, I bet the efficent work by TLV will still be good. Even with crummy buses, they're actually still good. Love these!